If you describe something as tangential, you mean that it has only a slight or indirect connection with the thing you are concerned with, and is therefore not worth considering seriously. Too much time was spent discussing tangential issues
in the same direction as If tie a stone to a string, and whirl it round in a circle, and then the string breaks, the stone will fly off in a tangential direction
If something is tangential to something else, it is at a tangent to it. point T, where the demand curve is tangential to the straight line L. tangential information, remarks etc are only related to a particular subject in an indirect way tangential to
A direction along the tangent of the rim, i e , following a straight line perpendicular to the radius Outer notes are usually oriented tangentially, i e , with their length axis pointing along the rim